#20SBSummit – So. Much. AWESOME.

The inaugural 20 Something Bloggers Summit was this weekend. I’m sure those of you who follow 20SB on Twitter and other members who attended were well aware, because we blew Twitter up each and every second we were there. (I apologize. Kind of.) I mean, we were a trending topic in Chicago! And it was epic. But I can’t go into a hugely long recap of the weekend, because there was just so much! So that means… bullet points!

I’m continually amazed at how I can meet someone once before, or for the first time at a meetup, and have there be no awkwardness. Bloggers rule.

You forget that some of the people you’ve met before or have been friends with for awhile, or are even just meeting IRL for the first time are big deals. And it’s awesome and amusing to hear someone gush over them. (Does anyone gush over me? That would be kind of cool, not going to lie.)

No matter how many times you’ve been to Chicago, getting lost will turn into a spontaneous walking tour. And you’ll totally take an on purpose detour to Jamba Juice.

It’s all about the hashtags. #chestypowers #canadianamericanrelations #hashtag #bitter

The content was amazing. From the Aspiration and Application tracks, there was so much learning and collaboration going on. And people were not afraid to ask questions, no matter which amazing speaker was on stage.

If “THIS” wasn’t an acronym before, it is now. (Ask if you want to know what it is!)

In a tweet from me, “I love that this conference actually allows me to learn from my peers. People my age, with similar experiences. It’s AMAZING.” <—- this was so, immensely true.

On this last bullet, I have to elaborate. I was volunteering at the Summit as the Social Media Manager. This in itself was amazing, because I got to live tweet sessions, engage with the attendees and those who couldn’t attend via Twitter, Facebook and more. To be crude, it was basically a wet dream for a girl like me who is trying to move more and more into social media and community management. And although live tweeting sessions was split with Derek, and Jenn/Jamie at times… it was tiring! I loved every single second of it, but wow. I’m so thankful that the team at ASquared gave me this opportunity – it was an amazing experience and great practice!!

I took away so much. Two quotes in general, I stated that I needed to “paint on my walls”:

Closing thought? I knew I was going to have a great time, simply based on the group of people who I knew were going. What I didn’t realize is how much the actual Summit itself was going to impact me, and make me so excited to throw myself into blogging, social media, and everything else. I mentioned while I was there that the 20SB Summit was doing for me what I had wished BlogHer did when I went last summer. The content truly hit our demographic right on target, and it was freaking awesome. #schmoop

No, I totally agree- everyone meshed so well. The only time I ever felt moderately awkward/uncomfortable was the first night at the wine social…for about the first ten minutes. Then as more people arrived it was game time and I had a blast talking, laughing, swapping cards and cheers-ing with everyone! I kept thinking as I’d head home for the day, “Wow, I just had so much fun and time flew.”

Also amazing was the fact that I was really good at remembering names! In almost every other situation I’ve been in, it’s always a struggle to recall names (even though I know faces) here at the summit people clicked so quickly.

I had a fabulous time and it was great to meet you- if you’re ever back in Chicago, know I have an open door and will always love to see you! Keep fighting the good fight and rocking the good…rock?

“I mentioned while I was there that the 20SB Summit was doing for me what I had wished BlogHer did when I went last summer.” I am so glad you said this, I had been wondering about going to BlogHer but after 20SB I feel like I have found my perfect niche in the blogging conference world. SO much awesome!

So glad to get to meet you and happy to have been part of such an amazing inaugural event. I knew I’d had fun but didn’t expect to walk out of the room a changed person. It was absolutely an amazing experience.

It was such a fantastic weekend. When I was going through my post I had to do a special edit for the words “AWESOME” and “AMAZING” because they comprised about 50% of my word count and it was ridiculous. Like you said, I felt like there was so much to take in from every single person I spoke to and it was great.

Mostly I just left feeling like, “ALL RIGHT, YEAH, WE’RE GOING TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD NOW.”

[…] straw market about 6 years ago. Also pictured on the right is a small Vera Bradley duffel (from the 20SB Summit) for all the additional things that we’ve been told to “steal” from the hospital. […]